How 14-Year-Old 'Scandal' Star Yara Shahidi Is Giving Back in a Major Way

The actress tells us all about her latest philanthropy project.

Yara spent a week giving back in Jamaica.Photos courtesy of Yara Shahidi

You may already know Yara Shahidi as baby Olivia Pope: She plays the younger version of Kerry Washington's super-fixer on the hit series Scandal. But the 14-year-old actress is also doing quite a bit to change the world off camera. In fact, as part of her work with Integrative Clinics International, she recently traveled to Jamaica—and we caught up with her to hear about how she lent a hand.

ICI is an organization dedicated to improving the healthcare services in underserved communities. Through their initiative in Jamaica, they see more than 100 patients each day and help provide long-term, consistent care like dental work and minor surgery. Yara heard about the organization through a family connection, and she and her mom set their sights on being involved.

"It was an amazing trip," Yara says. "We had been trying to make sure we could find the time, and finally we were able to go for a full week! We went to different areas of Jamaica, so we were in places like Nine Mile and Negril to give healthcare to people who didn't have access to it. I was doing triage, helping fill prescriptions, and giving some of the needed care."

And she's already making plans for her next project with ICI: "They do an outreach to Ghana, and I would love to be able to help with that!" But when she's not traveling, Yara is just as passionate about giving back locally. "A few weeks ago my friend came over, and instead of surfing the web, we decided to make 'We Care' bags with basic essentials like toothbrushes and things like that to hand out to the homeless in our community," she explains.

Yara credits her family and school with helping her find charity initiatives, but also advises teens hoping to get involved to go online for inspiration. "I'm always looking for new projects," she says. "I start out asking, 'Is there anything I can do by myself?' I think there's always something in our own community, our own city, our own state that we can do."

Between studying, acting (she's set to star in a new ABC show, Blackish, this fall), and doing philanthropy work, Yara certainly has a full plate, but she finds a way balance her many interests. "On the school side, it's super easy because they're very, very supportive and all my teachers do whatever they can to help out," she says. "And when it comes to acting, I've taken projects of mine to set! In my trailer I've put together care bags and all sorts of stuff."

It also doesn't hurt that she's incredibly passionate about what she does.

"It comes down to this idea that the entire world is made up of a community of human beings," Yara explains. "And if you're capable of providing care for people that really need it—things that would change their well-being—then it's your duty to that."